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VIDC Enhancer Board and Sync on Green Fix for Acorn Archimedes A300, A400, A400/1 and A3000

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VIDC Enhancer Board and Sync on Green Fix for Acorn Archimedes A300, A400, A400/1 and A3000 VIDC Enhancer board and Sync on Green fix for Acorn Archimedes A300, A400, A400/1 and A3000 Contents About the Retro-Kit VIDC Enhancer board ............................................................................................ 4 How it works ..................................................................................................................................... 4 Copyright notice................................................................................................................................ 4 Disclaimer ......................................................................................................................................... 4 A note about monitors .......................................................................................................................... 5 VGA display modes ........................................................................................................................... 5 Differences between RISC OS 2 and RISC OS 3...................................................................................... 5 VIDC Enhancer board differences for each model of Archimedes ........................................................ 7 Riser board configuration ................................................................................................................. 7 Non-riser configuration ..................................................................................................................... 8 Preparing your Archimedes for the VIDC Enhancer board .................................................................... 9 Fitting the Retro-Kit VIDC Enhancer board ......................................................................................... 10 All machines .................................................................................................................................... 10 Tools required ................................................................................................................................. 10 A3000 .......................................................................................................................................... 10 A300, A400, A400/1 .................................................................................................................... 10 Orientation of the Archimedes motherboards ............................................................................... 11 Fitting the VIDC Enhancer board to an Acorn BBC A3000 ............................................................... 12 Parts list ...................................................................................................................................... 12 Fitting .......................................................................................................................................... 12 To configure the A3000 with VIDC Enhancer for a VGA monitor ................................................ 16 Fitting the VIDC Enhancer board to an Acorn Archimedes A300 or A400 ....................................... 17 Parts list ...................................................................................................................................... 17 To strip down the Archimedes .................................................................................................... 17 To fit the additional parts to the A300 and A400 motherboards ................................................ 18 To fit the Retro-Kit VIDC Enhancer .............................................................................................. 21 To configure the A300 and A400 with VIDC Enhancer for a VGA monitor .................................. 22 Fitting the VIDC Enhancer board to an Acorn Archimedes A400/1 ................................................. 24 Parts list ...................................................................................................................................... 24 To strip down the Archimedes .................................................................................................... 24 To fit the additional parts to the A400/1 motherboard .............................................................. 25 To fit the Retro-Kit VIDC Enhancer .............................................................................................. 27 To configure the A400/1 with VIDC Enhancer for a VGA monitor ............................................... 29 2 Powering on your Archimedes after fitting the VIDC Enhancer .......................................................... 30 To set your Archimedes’ monitor type ........................................................................................... 30 To change your Archimedes’ Sync output by resetting the CMOS .................................................. 30 Installing the software for your VIDC Enhancer .................................................................................. 31 AutoVIDC ........................................................................................................................................ 31 Non-Uniboot installation ............................................................................................................ 31 Using your VIDC Enhancer with optional manual override ................................................................. 32 Resetting the Archimedes for a Composite Sync monitor .................................................................. 33 All Archimedes ................................................................................................................................ 33 A3000 .............................................................................................................................................. 33 A300 and A400 ................................................................................................................................ 33 A400/1 ............................................................................................................................................ 33 Troubleshooting .................................................................................................................................. 34 Archimedes fails its POST ................................................................................................................ 34 Appendices ......................................................................................................................................... 35 Appendix A – RISC OS monitor type definitions .............................................................................. 35 Appendix B – Screen modes and refresh rates ............................................................................... 36 Notes on display modes .............................................................................................................. 37 Other notes ................................................................................................................................. 37 Appendix C – Dual VIDC Enhancer .................................................................................................. 39 Appendix D – Overclocking the VIDC chip ....................................................................................... 40 Appendix E – Tested monitors ........................................................................................................ 41 IIyama ProLite E430S................................................................................................................... 41 Proview 780 ................................................................................................................................ 41 Sony Bravia KDL 40V4000 ........................................................................................................... 41 DELL Ultrasharp 3008WFP .......................................................................................................... 41 Samsung 191T ............................................................................................................................. 41 LG Flatron Wide M208WA .......................................................................................................... 41 3 About the Retro-Kit VIDC Enhancer board The Retro-Kit VIDC Enhancer board is a hardware upgrade that allows early Acorn Archimedes computers to achieve screen resolutions and refresh rates that are only normally available in later Acorn computers such as the A540, A4000, A5000, A3010 and A3020. The Retro-Kit VIDC Enhancer board also features a way to remove the Composite Sync signal that forms part of the Green signal in the A300, A400 and A400/1 series of Archimedes which is unique amongst VIDC Enhancer board designs. The board is provided in one of two configurations depending upon the model of Archimedes it was purchased for which comprise of the riser board configuration suitable for the A300, A400 and A400/1 computers and the non-riser configuration for the A3000. The boards are sold on a non-profit basis. How it works The VIDC Enhancer board allows the Archimedes to achieve higher resolutions and refresh rates by increasing the clock speed at which the VIDC chip runs on the motherboard. Once fitted its operation is transparent to the user and the board will automatically switch between the Archimedes’ own 24MHz clock and the new 36MHz clock fitted on the VIDC Enhancer board depending on mode selection. When
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